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- Herausgeber: Nosy Crow Ltd
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Serie: Mermaid Academy
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
Mermazing action-packed underwater adventures for young readers. Beautifully illustrated throughout and with a glittery cover! From the authors and illustrator of the bestselling Unicorn Academy series. Hidden deep beneath the waves is Mermaid Academy, a magical school where mermaids are paired with their very own dolphin and must discover their unique mermaid magic, with plenty of adventure along the way! Impulsive Harper has a smaller tail than most mermaids but encouraged by her dolphin, Splash, she's always up for an adventure. When a search for an ancient turtle leads to the Mangrove Swamps, Harper and Splash's actions put everyone in extreme danger. Can they work together to save themselves and their friends? Mermaid Academy is the perfect series for 7+ readers who love magic and adventure. Look out for more titles! Isla and Bubble, Cora and Sparkle and Maya and Rainbow, Amber and Flash and Millie and Storm.
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Harper and Splash dived inside the cave. It was dark and Harper’s eyes had to gradually adjust to the dim light. But as they did, she gasped in alarm. A creature with two large eyes and eight arms was glaring at them through the gloom!
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For Natalie Williams, who loves books and dolphins.
J.S. and L.C.
Dearest Robyn, wishing you lots of sparkly fun! Enjoy reading! x
L.T.
CHAPTER ONE
“Ready, Splash?” Harper grinned at her dolphin, her green eyes sparkling with mischief.
Splash gave an eager nod. “I’m ready!”
Harper stifled a giggle as she swam along the outer wall of her dormitory tower and peeped through the window. There was no glass in the windows of Mermaid Academy so the students could swim straight through, and this meant she had to be extra quiet.
Inside Lilac Star dorm, Harper saw her dorm-mates, Millie, Aurora and Lyla unpacking. Everyone had just returned from holiday. 2Millie was carefully placing hair slides on a miniature coral tree. Lyla had emptied all her bags out and was staring at her heap of things in disbelief, while Aurora was curled up on her clamshell bed, reading a book.
“Three, two, one, go!” whispered Harper. She raised her voice and made it sound exactly like the school’s headteacher, Dr Oceania.
“Comealong,Crystal.We’llstartoursurpriseinspectionwithLilacStardorm.Iftheyhaven’tunpackedtheirthingsyetthenthere’sgoingtobeserioustrouble!”
Splash whistled in agreement, pretending to be Crystal, Dr Oceania’s dolphin.
Hearing alarmed gasps from her friends, Harper struggled to hold back her giggles. Beside her, Splash shook with silent laughter.
She continued loudly, “Ifthe dorm is a mess, I willdeducttensea-starpoints…”When she heard Millie let out a horrified squeak, she gave up, exploding 3with laughter as she looked through the window. “Tricked you!” she cried.
“Harper!” shrieked Millie. “Don’t do things like that!”
“You’re much too good at mimicking people,” said Aurora, picking her book off the floor where she had dropped it in panic.4
Lyla nodded, heaving a sigh of relief. “I seriously thought we were going to start the term with negative sea-star points. Millie would never have forgiven us,” she said with a grin.
Lilac Star had nearly won the trophy for the dorm with the most sea-star points last term, until Moon Pearl leapt ahead at the last minute. Millie was determined to win it this time round.
Harper swam inside. “Have you missed me?” she asked, throwing her bag on her bed.
Everyone hugged her. “Definitely,” said Lyla. “Life is much quieter without you around.”
“I’ve missed everyone,” said Aurora.
Millie nodded. “It was fun to be home for a while. I loved seeing my little sisters, but it’s great to be back.”
“Did you have a good holiday, Harper?” Lyla asked.
Harper pulled a face. “Yes and no. It was nice 5seeing Mum and Dad, but my brother’s fifteen now and he’s a real boring barnacle. He won’t hang out with me so I had no-one to play pranks on or do dares with which wasn’t much fun. And I really missed Splash.”
“I missed you too!” Splash whistled from outside the window. “Let’s go and play. Jewel, Charm and Storm are in The Singing Circle.”
“Sure! Come on everyone,” said Harper happily. She darted back to the window.
“Harper, wait,” called Millie. “We’ve already seen our dolphins. There’s a school assembly soon in the Grand Cavern and after that, lessons start.”
Harper spun round in dismay. “What? Are you sure?”
“Yes, our first lesson is Wildlife Studies with Mr Nori,” said Millie. “Our timetable is up on the noticeboard. Didn’t you check it?”
“But it’s our first day back! I thought we’d be 6allowed to settle in and chill,” groaned Harper, who hadn’t even thought about checking the noticeboard. She gave Splash a longing look. Millie, Aurora and Lyla were great but Splash was her best friend in all the oceans and they had so much to catch up on.
A long note from a conch shell rang out around the school.
“Assembly is about to start,” said Aurora.
“Boring snoring!” grumbled Splash.
Harper swam over the window ledge. “We can swim down to the Grand Cavern together at least, Splash.” She grabbed the fin on his back. “Race you all!” she called to her friends. “Last one there’s a stinky skunkfish!”
She giggled at their indignant exclamations as Splash shot away, pulling her with him. When mermaids and dolphins linked their energy together, they could swim much faster than 7either could alone. Harper made use of that magic a lot. Her tail fin was smaller than most of the other mermaids which meant she couldn’t swim as fast. It didn’t bother her. She just worked harder or found a different way to achieve her goals.
Harper held on to Splash as they zoomed down through the turquoise water and across The Singing Circle. There were stone benches to sit on, large sea fans, impressive statues and a pedestal with a giant golden harp. Two nibbler fish who had been snacking on a section of coral arch scattered as Harper and Splash raced past.
The school buildings all surrounded The Singing Circle. Some were made from coral 8and others from stone. The Grand Cavern where assemblies were held was a huge cave carved out of a rocky cliff on one side of The Singing Circle. Its entrance was covered by a thick curtain of seaweed.
“Winners!” said Splash, play-bumping Harper with his nose as they stopped in a cloud of bubbles outside it.
“Yaaay!” Harper said. “You’re the best, Splash. Meet me at the Wildlife Sanctuary at breaktime and we can catch up properly then.”
“OK,” said Splash.
“Don’t have too much fun without me!” Harper called as he swam away.
Her friends arrived and they entered the Grand Cavern with the other students. The rocky ceiling of the Grand Cavern arched high overhead, decorated by bioluminescent algae that sparkled like stars. Sconces of green mermaid fire flickered on the walls and a huge magical globe hung above 9Dr Oceania’s magnificent chair. Every body of water in the world – oceans, seas, lakes, lagoons – were charted on the globe, their names written in swirling gold. If a student or teacher wanted to travel somewhere, the globe could transport them. Last term, Harper and her friends had travelled 10to some beautiful sea grass meadows where they’d rescued a family of fairy whales. Harper felt a fizz of excitement as she remembered.
“I hope we have another adventure this term,” she announced.
“Ssh!” hissed Millie, glancing round. “Dr Oceania asked us to keep it a secret.”
“Whoops!” Harper’s hand flew to her mouth. “Sorry!” she whispered. Luckily everyone else seemed too busy chattering to their friends to have overheard her. “It was brilliant though, wasn’t it?” Her eyes shone as she thought about how they had saved the whales from the Mal Mer, a secretive and dangerous clan of merfolk. The Mal Mer, having plundered their own ocean of everything beautiful, had started taking things from other oceans. They had also learned to use mind control magic to force sea creatures to work for them.
Over the holiday, Harper had heard her parents 11talking about how three of the Mal Mer were under investigation by the Mer Council for trapping sea creatures and stealing rare plants and corals. Extra guards had been sent to patrol the oceans to prevent other Mal Mer from making similar raids. Harper was very glad the oceans were safer now but still hoped she and her friends would have another adventure. Ifwedo,maybeI’ll find my magic and bond with Splash, she thought hopefully.
